


Family of Blood

by pagetcookgubler



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-02
Packaged: 2019-10-21 04:54:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17636321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pagetcookgubler/pseuds/pagetcookgubler
Summary: "She was her guardian, her protector, and she couldn't fail her. She was all Olivia had, and vice versa." When a child claiming to be Emily Prentiss' half sister comes knocking at her door in the middle of the night, it sets off a chain of events no one could've seen coming.





	Family of Blood

** Dead Until Further Notice **

****

**_October 15, 1985_ **

Lauren Reynolds couldn’t breathe. Her tears were made of salt just as bitter as the memories that spurred them on. She felt like her entire life was coming to an end. With shaking hands, she pulled herself up from the floor and stared at her stomach in the mirror. It wasn’t obvious yet, but in about 4 months she wouldn’t be able to hide it anymore.

She knew at that moment what she needed to do, and with shaky hands and jelly legs, she began packing her belongings. It was the only way. If he found out she was pregnant, he’d finally follow through on his threats to kill her.

Grabbing all the birthday money she had left, she took one last look around the bedroom she grew up in. As quietly as she could, she opened her window and – just like she’d done so many times before – climbed out into the cool fall air and onto the fire escape.

There was a motel just a few blocks away. Every part of her body still ached from earlier that day and she knew she would be tired, but she had to do it. She’d check in under a fake name and he’d never be able to find her. He wasn’t that smart.

Twenty minutes later, she was standing in front of the Motel 6 and ready to start her new life. She took a deep breath before walking inside. _You’re not Lauren Reynolds anymore. Lauren Reynolds is dead._

“Ma’am?”

She jumped at the sound of the clerk’s voice and cleared her throat. “Huh?”

“Checking in?”

Lauren nodded, stepping forward to be waited on. She handed the clerk all the money she had and yanked her hand away when she stared at the bruises on her arm with a concerned look on her face. “Emily Prentiss.”

At just fifteen years old, Lauren Reynolds made the decision to run away from home and start anew.

Lauren Reynolds is dead.

* * *

 

**_January 26, 2011_ **

****

Emily inwardly groaned at the knock on her door, the idea of crawling into her warm bed and forgetting about the case suddenly forgotten. She slowly moved in sock-clad feet to her door, swinging it open to reveal a little girl no older than ten. Once she got over the initial shock of a young child showing up at her door past midnight, she finally found her voice. When she spoke, her voice was soft, soothing – like she was talking to a victim’s family member. “Can I help you?”

The girl stood in the doorway. Silent, hands shaking. She just nodded her head, opening her mouth to say something, _anything_ , but then closing it again. What if she just sent her away again? She had done lots of research on this woman – way more than she ever would for anything to do with school – and everything told her that she was a good person that just wanted to help people. But she didn’t think a lot of people showed up at her door in the middle of the night asking for help. She finally managed to squeak out her name. “Olivia.”

Emily sighed, reaching up to turn the living room light on. She didn’t miss the wince that the girl – who she assumed was named Olivia – gave when she moved towards her. “That’s your name? Olivia?” Emily finally managed to get a good look at the girl. The light illuminated every last bruise and cut on her face and Emily gasped softly at the sight of her. She outstretched her hand and didn’t wait for her to take it before dragging her into the apartment. In any other circumstance, she would’ve waited, but somebody had hurt this little girl badly and Emily feared they were still close by.

Olivia seemed to finally find her voice, but only enough for her to protest being dragged into a strange apartment. “No!” She dug her heels into the carpeted hallway and went limp, causing Emily to stumble and almost fall over. She quickly let go of her hand and curled into a ball in the corner of the hallway. She had been wrong about Emily all along and now she was paying for it, just like she would when she finally got back home. Her father had been right, no one cared about her. No one wanted to help her.

“Olivia?”

Olivia’s head snapped up, her gaze fixed on Emily as she got closer and closer. She was going to punish her just like her father and Olivia swore that she saw Emily sneer at her when she finally got close enough to do whatever she wanted to her. She hid her face in her knees when Emily crouched down and when she felt Emily touch her arm, she almost jumped out of her skin. She winced and waited. Waited for the pain, for the mean words, for the laughter. But it never came.

Instead, Emily just changed positions so she was sitting next to her, her hand rubbing Olivia’s back gently while she kept an eye out for any strangers that came down the hall. After what felt like forever but was actually only about two minutes, Olivia finally looked at her. “Olivia, my name is Emily. I’d love to help you, if you’d let me.”

Olivia eyed Emily carefully, sussing her out. If she wanted to hurt her, surely, she would have done it by now, right? Olivia bit her lip and nodded slowly, her hand reaching for Emily’s with as much hesitation as her ten-year-old body could ever be filled with.

Emily smiled and stood up with Olivia in tow. When they finally made it back into her apartment, she locked the door and secretly grabbed her gun from her side table. This little girl had been through enough and as long as she was in Emily’s apartment, nothing else was going to happen to her. She told Olivia that she would be right back and not to move before quickly going into the bathroom and grabbing her first-aid kit.

“What’s that?” Olivia asked once Emily returned. She watched as Emily set it on the kitchen counter. She never had anything like that in her house, but it looked like the symbol on ambulances. She’s been in lots of those before.

“It’s a first-aid kit.” Emily explained, helping Olivia onto the counter before opening it. “I know it looks kind of scary inside, but everything in here is made to help you when you’re hurt.” She took out some bandages and disinfectant, causing Olivia to back away from her. Emily cut a piece of cloth off that she thought would be big enough for the gash on Olivia’s forehead and demonstrated by wrapping it around her own arm. “See? Harmless.”

Olivia nodded, an action that Emily took to mean that she had permission to bandage her up. She squeezed some of the disinfectant on the bandage and folded it over to rub it through. She slowly covered the wound, not missing the whimper that came out of Olivia when it touched the sore spot. “Sorry.” Emily apologized before going to work examining the other wounds. She had determined that the only thing she could do for the bruises was to wait for them to fade. “There.”

Olivia jumped off the counter and Emily was ready for a chase when Olivia ran into her arms, mumbling a ‘thank you’ before letting go.

Emily nodded, kneeling in front of her so they were face to face. She knew exactly what had happened to this child and it made her sick. What she needed to know was why she showed up at Emily’s apartment and who she could take her back to. Someone had to be missing a sweet little girl like her. “So, are you gonna tell me how you got here?”

Olivia shrugged, avoiding Emily’s gaze. “I kind of looked you up.” At the incredulous look on Emily’s face, she elaborated. “Olivia Reynolds.”

Emily’s heart sunk and her face paled. She shook her head and slowly backed away, stubbing her toe on the leg of the couch in the process. She would’ve cursed in pain had there not been a small child in the room with her. “You're saying that he's…he had another child?” Emily couldn't stomach the thought of her father with a young child – not after what he'd put her through.

She understood that the situation was a lot worse than her father knocking up some other woman – hell, the bastard had to have caught onto the fact that Olivia had ran away by now. He was in the wind and could've been halfway to Mexico by now, but in Emily's eyes, the severity was that another little girl's innocence was long gone and she would never be able to get it back.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." She mumbled, quickly excusing herself before rushing to the bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach. When she returned a few moments later, legs still feeling like jelly and beads of sweat dripping off her forehead, she noticed something – or rather, _someone_ – was missing. “Damn it!” She frantically searched the apartment for Olivia while trying to maintain her composure.

_Stay calm, Emily. There’s no way he knows where you are._

“Olivia?”

Nothing.

“Damn it, Olivia. Where did you go?” She caught movement out of the corner of her eye and her hand instinctively went to the gun she had hidden in her small of back holster. Quickly and quietly, she moved towards the source of movement ready to shoot. Her eyes focused on the couch and just as quickly as she had pulled the gun out, she had hidden it again.

There, on the sofa, was Olivia sound asleep with Sergio curled into her side. Emily couldn’t help the smile that played at her lips as Olivia’s fists gripped the blanket tightly. She knelt down in front of the sofa, brushing Olivia’s hair out of her face. She knew she’d have to wake her up move her to the spare bedroom – there was no way she was letting her sleep on the couch with their father on the loose – but she just couldn’t find it in her. “Olivia.”

Olivia started, her eyes darting around the room before finally landing on Emily. It took her a minute to realize where she was and what was happening, but once she did, her cheeks turned a bright red and she quickly sat up, avoiding Emily’s gaze. “Oh, my God. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to, I swear. I just laid down for a second and…”

“Hey,” Emily grabbed Olivia’s hands, rubbing her thumbs across Olivia’s knuckles. “It’s okay. I just thought you’d be more comfortable in the spare room.” She stood slowly, so as not to scare her again – she didn’t think she had it in her to play chase again. She held out her hand and waited for Olivia to take it.

Olivia took Emily’s hand and let her lead her to the spare bedroom, taking in the sights of the two-floor condo. It was way bigger than her house. Cozier, too. It was filled with pictures of Emily and her friends, trinkets that Olivia had never even seen before and more books than she could even count.

They had finally stopped in front of a door and Emily pushed it open, ushering her inside. “Sorry it’s messy. I don’t have a lot of company.” She figured they would come up with a plan tomorrow. “We’ll talk decorating tomorrow, okay?”

Olivia nodded, an indication she had heard, but she wasn’t really listening to what Emily was saying. She was too enamored with the room. It was huge – maybe even the biggest bedroom she’s ever seen. Bookcases lined the wall closest to the bed – not to mention, she had a _bed_. At home, she just had a blanket and a dirty pillow that he threw on the floor for her.

She looked at the dresser and saw the picture of two blonde women with Emily sandwiched in between them. They looked so _nice_. Olivia had never known very many nice people. “Who are they?”

Emily came over to Olivia to see what she was looking at. “Those are my colleagues. That’s Penelope,” she said, pointing to the woman on the left, “and that’s Jennifer.” She pointed to the woman on the right, before adding, “But she prefers JJ.”

Olivia put the picture back on the dresser before she walked over to the bed and climbed in. It was so warm and comfortable. She decided she never wanted to leave Emily’s house. “Can I meet them?”

Emily smiled, covering Olivia with the blankets. “I’m sure they’d love you. But right now, you need to sleep. It’s late and you’ve got a big day tomorrow.” She placed a kiss to her forehead before standing. “Good night.”

“’Night, Emily.”

And with those two words, Olivia was out again. Emily quietly left the room, closing the door behind her. What the hell was she doing? She knew what she had to do. Call the police, CPS. But they’d take her away and they’d never see each other again. Olivia needed her, and Emily would be lying if she said she didn’t need Olivia as well. She was her guardian, her protector, and she couldn't fail her. She was all Olivia had, and vice versa.


End file.
